Socrates’ QuestDiotima continues her story by describing Eros in more detail,
and she does so in ways that exactly match Socrates. Both are
poor, ugly and shoeless. Both long for something they lack, but
are endlessly cunning in the pursuit of what they love – divine
wisdom. Thus, concludes Diotima: ‘He is in between wisdom
and ignorance as well.’ The message is clear. Socrates’ daemon
is like Eros: it is a go-between for an in-between, and is another
manifestation of the way his philosophy drives him like love.
The second incident comes after Socrates and Diotima have
fi nished speaking, when Socrates’ sometime pupil Alcibiades,
now an Athenian leading light, comes in. He proceeds to give a
speech in praise of Socrates, though as it turns out it is as much
a rant – not least when describing the disturbing, daemonic
effect Socrates has on him:
I swear to you the moment he starts to speak, I am beside
myself: my heart starts leaping in my chest, the tears come
streaming down my face, even the frenzied Corybantes seem
sane compared to me – and I tell you, I am not alone. I have
heard Pericles and many other great orators, and I have
admired their speeches. But nothing like this ever happened
to me: they never upset me so deeply that my very own soul
started protesting that my life – my life! – was no better than
the most miserable slave’s. He always traps me, you see, and
makes me admit that my political career is a waste of time,
while all that matters is just what I most neglect: my per-
sonal shortcomings that cry out for my closest attention. So
I refuse to listen to him; I stop my ears and tear myself away
from him, for, like the Sirens, he could make me stay by his
side till I die.Notice how it is not just Socrates’ rational challenges that causes
Alcibiades to doubt everything. It is a psychological force that
he wields and that causes so much distress. This force brings
Alcibiades’ political aspirations into question and his deepest,
darkest motivations. What he describes is a complete collapse